Search results

Actually, there are already plenty of instances of pissed off Christians who have destroyed the artwork from various other ancient civilizations (so if you've ever wondered why some Greek statues have limbs, noses or other parts of the statue unnaturally destroyed, now you know why), and they...

Actually, I beg to differ, and while I understand there are benefits to democracy, it isn't a perfect system, and just because everyone agrees with something doesn't mean that they're right, or that it's good for everyone. Centuries ago, the majority of people were okay with slavery, but that...

For the umpteenth time, I don't think we're saying you're not allowed to voice your opinion at all; just that if you use religion as justification for it, where the public sphere is concerned, then not everyone who believes in your religion is obligated to do so, and it is unfair to impose your...

And that's precisely the problem. Trying to argue for something in which only you hold to be true does not have to affect other people, nor does it necessarily apply to them; your personal beliefs are things you do for yourself, and for which you cannot expect other people to abide by or agree...

No one's denying you the right to think what you want. What is happening, however, is that religion is not a good justification for anything. If you want it for personal beliefs, nobody's denying you that right. But the second you use religion to justify something, you're basically saying...

I actually don't mind if people want to interpret the bible in their own ways. What I have a problem with is people subjecting the bible to their own interpretation, and either saying their interpretation is the only one, and everyone else's is wrong, or proceeding to use the bible as evidence...

Actually, there's no reason to believe anything is true unless there's evidence. The bible just isn't an exception. If you take a look at some of the accounts about Jesus, there are contradictions about whether or not the dead rose, how many angels there were when he supposedly rose, and a few...

That's only true if you have the moral consciousness to ignore all the other verses about treating women like shit, slavery and all the other verses that are violent and don't make sense. And if you can do all that, please also explain where your judgment to decide which verses to take out of...

I should like to bring up a small issue, but it's important: whenever you see something written in the bible (okay, or anywhere for that matter), and you see something else written in the bible that is in direct contradiction with what you saw before, that's not historical accuracy; that's...

Here's the problem. We have different standards that we abide by, and if we aren't aware of them, and can't agree to them, obviously we can't simply agree to disagree. Take this section for instance. I've always thought of debate as a discussion where you're not simply just here to talk about...

They don't happen to me because Gmail is good about the spam and usually puts them away where I can't see it. But for some reason, the other e-mails about winning the lottery or about offering you money just seem way too obvious to me anyways; there have been entire websites devoted to ratting...

But actually, value in math is lost precisely because the people teaching it hate it. Lots of kids go through school, and they never find out what's so great about it. I personally think more kids should be learning about number theory, combinatorics and probability in class, and despite all the...

Okay, but I don't consider talking to myself necessarily prayer; if you can talk to other people and not consider it prayer, then talking to yourself is no different. The only thing that's different is who you're talking to. The problem when it comes to talking to certain theists is that...

Actually, atheism isn't a belief system; it's a lack of belief. It's the same as calling darkness the absence of light, and cold the absence of heat. They're not the same states at all; one of them is just a word to describe that absence. Okay, but the reason I don't want to call those things...

That depends on if you're praying for wisdom for yourself, or praying for wisdom for others. And under what context are you praying? Are you doing so under the context of your own religion, or are you doing so because you hope other people will see it? If so, why not actually spread self...

Do you have to believe Edward Cullen exists in order to hate Twilight? And I don't believe we hate religion or Christianity (okay, at least I don't), I simply dislike its message and its dishonesty. Actually, ridicule is an effective way of getting someone to see something if logic doesn't get...

But what if you are teaching it as the people who lived in said civilization believed this stuff, rather than saying it's just plain false? I don't recall anyone ever telling me that those stories about Zeus and Hercules and so on were false; I just eventually decided they were because there was...

Ha, and I watched Terminator 2 when I was only 6. I'm not scarred for life. I've often not understood why characters in cartoons can't drink or smoke. I mean, kids can probably be in public with their parents, and see other people drinking or smoking, and if they occur in public so frequently...

Well, it can be taken out of context, or justified on faulty logic, but then that's our problem; not math. Well actually, I'm not sure if it always says other things can't happen; that depends on the theorem. There are some theorems that make specific statements on when something is possible...

I distinguish abstract concepts from concrete things in that the concrete things don't exist until there is evidence for them. You may have an idea for a kind of hovercraft that runs on electricity, but until you can actually create one like it, it doesn't actually exist; it's just a concept...